A solar storm forces the TARDIS to land on a tiny island on 22nd-century
Earth. There, a factory pumps out acid so corrosive that disposable,
artificial humans are created to do all the work, taking the form of the
real employees who control their doppelgangers remotely. These
“Gangers” have all the memories of the real humans, but
lose their sentience once the connection is broken... until the solar
storm causes the Gangers to stabilise. Now the Doctor finds himself
desperately trying to stop war from breaking out between the humans and
their Ganger selves.

Production

Matthew Graham's only Doctor Who script had been 2006's Fear Her, but he had remained in contact with
the production office ever since. At one point, he was to write either the
tenth or eleventh episode of Season Twenty-Nine, and later he discussed
story ideas for Season Thirty-One. On both occasions, however, he was
prevented from returning to the show by his commitments to the spin-offs
from his successful drama Life On Mars -- namely its sequel,
Ashes To Ashes, and its American remake.

Finally, however, executive producer Steven Moffat convinced Graham to
contribute to Doctor Who's thirty-second season. Initially,
Graham intended to write a single-episode story before Moffat persuaded
him to tackle a two-part adventure, citing his love of Doctor Who
cliffhangers. As a starting point, Moffat suggesting fusing elements from
two sources: the remotely-controlled artificial bodies at the heart of the
2009 blockbuster Avatar and the shapeshifting monster in the 1982
thriller The Thing. This led to the notion of the Flesh and a story
pitting synthetically-created duplicates against their human originals.
Moffat anticipated a factory setting, but Graham was keen to juxtapose
the industrial flavour of the tale with a monastic environment,
recalling the 1986 mystery The Name Of The Rose. Originally, the
facility would have housed a much larger complement of both staff and
Gangers, but these numbers were cut back both for budgetary reasons and
to accentuate the atmosphere of claustrophobia and paranoia.

As production neared, the two scripts came to be known as The Rebel
Flesh and “Gangers”. Moffat was also in the process of
formulating his plans for Season Thirty-Two, which would be broadcast in
two halves split across the summer months. “Gangers” would be
the penultimate episode before the hiatus, and Moffat asked Graham to
lead into the mid-season finale, A Good Man Goes
To War by revealing at the story's conclusion that Amy is
herself a Ganger, whom the “Eye Patch Lady” has substituted
for the kidnapped -- and pregnant -- original. This replaced an ending
in which Amy has a vision of the “Eye Patch Lady” while the
Doctor and Rory head back to the TARDIS. Moffat also indicated that the
Doctor should be proactively investigating the Flesh, rather than
happening upon the St John's monastery by chance.

Graham's story was made as the third recording block for Season
Thirty-Two. It would be helmed by Julian Simpson, a writer-director
whose credits included episodes of Spooks, Hustle and
New Tricks. He was also the husband of Jana Carpenter, who had
played De Maggio in 2005's Dalek.
Simpson's first order of business was a day on the TARDIS set at Upper
Boat Studios; this took place on November 23rd, Doctor Who's
forty-seventh anniversary.

November 24th to 26th were spent at the first of five locations to
represent St John's. This was Cardiff Castle in Cardiff, where Simpson
recorded scenes in the thermostatic chamber, the crypt, and the basement.
On November 27th, work began at Caerphilly Castle in Caerphilly. Filming
there continued from the 29th to December 3rd, and was then completed on
the 6th. This location offered areas suitable for the evac tower, the
operating alcoves, the storeroom, the washroom, and the monitoring
station. Some recording also took place outdoors, including the rooftop
sequences and those set on the grounds near the TARDIS. Unfortunately,
early winter weather played havoc with the production, and on the 27th
Simpson himself was injured after slipping on ice outside his flat,
limiting his mobility for the remainder of the shoot.

The third location was Neath Abbey in Neath, where recording spanned
December 7th to 11th and focussed on material in the chapel. A single day
of filming took place at Chepstow Castle in Chepstow on the 13th for
scenes in the locker room and the secure room. On December 14th, Simpson
and his team began work at St Donats Castle in Llantwit Major, part of
Atlantic College. The principal story setting was the dining hall,
although material in the courtyard and on the beach was recorded outdoors,
and Adam's half of the holo-call was taped against a greenscreen; some
pick-up shots were also completed. Filming at St Donats was meant to
continue until the 17th but wrapped up a day early due to another
snowstorm.

To compensate for the early start to their Christmas break, the Doctor
Who team returned from holiday a day early, resuming work at St Donats
on January 3rd, 2011 and wrapping up there on the 4th. On the 5th it was
back to Cardiff Castle, before cast and crew retreated from the wintry
cold to Upper Boat. From January 6th to 8th, the recording schedule
chiefly involved work on the weather vane tower, crypt and TARDIS sets, in
addition to various effects shots and inserts. Also on the 8th, the scene
at the Morpeth-Jetsan offices was filmed on location at the Senedd in
Cardiff. This left only the concluding scene of Amy awaking in the
birthing room on Demons Run, which was recorded at Fillcare in Llantrisant
on January 27th during work on A Good Man Goes To
War. Subsequently, pick-up shots were completed at Upper Boat on
February 14th and April 18th.

A considerable amount of material was cut from the two episodes in
post-production. Much of this involved character elements, such as
Jennifer having perfect recall (explaining why her Ganger is able to
overcome the memory suppression protocols), and the Doctor and his Ganger
reminiscing about past companions and adventures. A “chef
computer” was to feature in the dining room, which chatted with the
humans in a Yorkshire accent. The arrival of the TARDIS at St John's was
more involved, and included the Doctor revealing the existence of a
“dear little hatch” in the bottom of the police box. The death
of the Ganger Doctor was to be accompanied by a montage of “happy
memories” including travelling with his granddaughter Susan,
defeating Davros with Sarah Jane Smith (as seen in Genesis Of The Daleks), meeting Rose Tyler (in
Rose), eating fish fingers and custard
with the young Amelia (in The Eleventh
Hour) and more.

At a late stage, “Gangers” was retitled The Almost
People. On May 26th, three days before its broadcast, it was announced
that executive producer Piers Wenger would be leaving both Doctor
Who and the BBC in September. Wenger had already stepped down from his
post as Head of Drama for BBC Wales in March, but had remained with the
Corporation to focus on creative development. He would now become the
senior commissioning executive for Film4. Ultimately, Wenger would remain
with Doctor Who through the production of the 2011 Christmas
special, The Doctor, The Widow And The
Wardrobe.